


Of strange things and diners

by DecayingLiberty



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Food, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 00:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13422441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DecayingLiberty/pseuds/DecayingLiberty
Summary: Marius visits a diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night.There are a lot of things that can happen in an empty and open diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night.





	Of strange things and diners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [synchronysymphony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/synchronysymphony/gifts).



> based on [these](https://bahorelly.tumblr.com/post/169874638722/passionateartist-cries-into-the-night-i-need) [posts](http://synchronysymphony.tumblr.com/post/169873954385/good-au-idea-where-theyre-all-alive)

There are a lot of things that can happen in an open and empty diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night: mundane things, memorable things, strange things.

Some things demand an explanation for the sake of sanity.

Others are better left unexplained — mostly also for the sake of sanity.

The night shift demands the most of their sanity, maybe it is even a prerequisite for it, if not just to reign in the insanity required for handling a night shift in a diner at a godforsaken crossroad in the outskirts of town at 2 AM on a Tuesday

Luckily, our tale does not demand either of those to a great extend.

Of all the incidents that happen in a diner in the middle of the night, there’s one common component. This component may seem obvious but nevertheless it is an important one, very important indeed, as it will be the main component of the story that is about to be told.

See, most of the ingredients that make up tales from a diner at night may vary. The diner might be full or empty, the night menus might have different dishes, or the lights might flicker in a different colour, yet, all incidents, inevitably and without exception, involve people.

They are witnesses and active actors in those tales, telling others of things that have happened to them, or things they have done.

Either way, people are the component in all stories because people, whether they might be human or not, are the ones who tell them.

Another thing that must be noted before we explore the tale of an encounter between two people, an encounter that is mundane, memorable and strange at once. Unlikely as it may be, one most know that those three descriptors are not exclusive of each other. The stories we tell can be mundane and memorable, or strange and memorable, or mundane and strange, or even mundane and memorable and strange all the same.

It all depends on the person who tells it and the way they tell it.

 

* * *

**I**

Marius Pontmercy enters a lonely diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night and he chooses the very secluded corner of the diner, moving with soft steps and the iron ambition to not be seen. Bright halogen lamps do not offer hiding but he counts on the fact that he is just another customer of many.

There are a few other patrons in the diner, truckers taking a break from their night travels, workers having a meal before going to bed, or even middle aged business men and women downing an entire carafe of water and coffee after a rough day that has left them sleepless.

He orders the menu of the night from the curly haired, freckled waiter, stares at his glass that he would consider half empty, eats, tips, and leaves into the night.

He does not remember the waiter, nor does the waiter remember him.

 

* * *

  **II**

Courfeyrac sees the young man sitting in the lonely diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night first, and thinks that he would like him to smile.

Pink and blue neon lights from the garish sign outside illuminate the slumped shoulders through the window at which he sits at and the jukebox is mutedly and tinnily playing an old song that Courfeyrac just barely remembers. The young man taps his finger delicately to the rhythm of the music.

The young man has the air of someone who is too deep in thought to notice his surroundings, and so deep in thought that it seems invasive to Courfeyrac to disrupt him.

And then, as the second song stops playing and his fingers uncertainly hover mid air, the young man blinks and looks up. That is when Courfeyrac goes to take his order, and he orders a simple common dish. Courfeyrac does not know what he expected but the order leaves him off-balance.

When serves the food, the young man gives him a brilliant smile.

Louison comes back from her break and offers to take over but Courfeyrac declines and instead decides to keep watching the only patron of the diner.

Courfeyrac never learns of the young man’s name but when he lies awake in his bed in the morning, he thinks of tousled black hair and sad brown eyes.

 

* * *

  **III**

Marius Pontmercy sits in a lonely diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night. Pink and blue neon lights from the garish sign outside add colourful accents to his slumped over form through the window at which he sits at and the jukebox softly plays the tune of a waltz. Marius does not know the name of the song but he knows it’s waltz because his nervous fingers drum the rhythm of it onto his thigh and he can’t help but to count the beats in his head.

He is the only customer here, so blending in is not an option for him but to be seen or to not be seen, that’s all the same to him.

When Courfeyrac hears the bell chime as the door opens, he makes his way to the counter and it takes him a while to spot the young man sitting in the very secluded corner of the diner. He goes to take the order when the song stops and the young man’s restless fingers hover uncertainly in mid air.

“Good evening, what would you like, m'sieur?”

Marius jumps and turns to look at Courfeyrac.

This is the version of the tale in which things take another turn.

“Beans,” says Marius.

“Pardon?”

“I’d like to have a plate of plain beans… Unseasoned…” Marius says. He contemplates a while. “Please,” he then adds.

“I… don’t know if we serve that?”

“Then I will also take a bowl of uncooked oats.”

“… Okay?”

Marius says nothing and fixes him with a determined look and Courfeyrac knows he has no reason to deny him his request.

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” Marius mumbles quietly and turns away from Courfeyrac’s gaze, somewhat embarrassed.

We do not know the reason for Marius’ order and perhaps, no one does, not even Marius himself, yet there has been a plea in his eyes that says: “Please do anything you can to make this order, it is very important to me.”

Of course Marius could have not seen his own eyes, but Courfeyrac very much has seen them with all their doe-likeness and lostness, so he is not at all dismayed, though certainly puzzled, when he looks through the storeroom for different assortments of beans and uncooked oats.

Louison returns from her break, smelling like cigarettes and perfume, and she greets him with a raised eyebrow as he tries to make the beans look pretty on a plate. He finds that there is not much one can do to make beans look pretty on a plate.

“Do you want to take a break?” she asks.

He doesn’t stop pushing the beans around on the plate when he answers: “Yeah, I’ll just finish this order.”

“Good,” says Louison and puts her apron back on. She doesn’t further question his doings.

Courfeyrac takes the arduously arranged bean plate with a bowl of uncooked oatmeal in the middle and places it carefully in front of Marius, and Marius, being deep in thought once again, only reacts when he moves his arm and his hand touches the cold cutlery that hasn’t been there before.

 

* * *

There are many things that can make a situation strange.

In this version of the tale, Courfeyrac decides to spend his break with Marius, a occurrence that would not happen at all, had Marius not placed his unique order.

Had Courfeyrac not spend his break with Marius, they neither would have learned of each other’s names, nor would they have talked as much as they had.

There’s something cathartic about telling a stranger your life story.

There’s something exhilarating about learning a person’s story.

The strangest occurrence in this version is neither Marius’ presence in the diner at 2 AM in the morning on a Tuesday night, nor Marius’ order, nor Courfeyrac’s sudden decision to get to know him nor Courfeyrac’s slipping Marius his number, nor Marius text the very next day.

It is they way they seem to fit together like clockwork, the way they have stumbled upon each other through a string of lucky occurrences, the way they click so seamlessly as if they have known each other in another life time.

And, after them joking and laughing in the neon lights of a forsaken diner, who can say for sure that they haven’t?

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated birthday! ♥
> 
> I saw the tags on your post and I wanted to write it! I hope you like it!
> 
> Here's my [tumblr!](https://decayingliberty.tumblr.com)


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